Kiran survives, Jagan proves point

The opposition sponsored no-confidence motion against the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh was defeated by a huge margin in the state assembly late Monday night.
After over a 16-hour-long debate on the motion moved by Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the house voted on the motion after 1 a.m. While 122 members supported the motion, 160 opposed it and there was one neutral. Five members were absent during the voting.
Though 16 Congress legislators loyal to YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy violated the whip to vote in favour of the motion, it was not enough to defeat the government.
The ruling party has 153 members in 295-member house. The magic figure required to defeat the motion was 143 as there are seven vacancies in the house.
In addition to ruling party's 136 members, 17 out of 18 legislators of Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and all seven members of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) opposed the motion.
All 85 members of TDP, 12 of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), four of CPI, two of BJP, one each of CPI-M, YSR Congress party and independent voted for the motion.
Though YSR Congress party's honorary president Vijayamma had reached the assembly in the morning with 18 Congress rebels, the number dwindled to 16 by the time of the voting. Suspense over the actual strength of Jagan group continued till the last minute as Congress leaders made all out efforts to win back rebels.
Announcing the defeat of the motion, Speaker N. Manohar adjourned the house sine die.
On the last day of the five-day winter session, the house debated the motion for over 16 hours. The debate was marred by not just heated exchanges between treasury and opposition benches but also by the allegations and counter allegations among the parties supporting the motion.
If the final result at the no-confidence vote was to be taken into account, the Congress has only 137 members whereas the combined Opposition strength was 122.
“If one were to take out the combined strength of PRP and MIM (24 MLAs) and add it to the Opposition tally, it would almost reach the magical 150-mark which is sufficient to unseat the Kiran government. It was a close shave for the CM. Despite his bravado, the CM must be feeling the jitters,” a senior analyst pointed out.

MLAs got richer overnight

The no-confidence motion introduced by the Telugu Desam Party in the state assembly has turned out to be an excellent opportunity to many MLAs from various parties to reap rich benefits.
It was a sort of windfall for the Praja Rajyam Party MLAs, as the Congress high command has assured them to take care of all their interests besides reportedly handing over “suitcases” to them.
On the other hand, several Congress MLAs in the camp of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, too, have been lured back into the Congress with monetary and other benefits.
The Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM) also rightly used the opportunity to blackmail the Congress party and got the Hyderabad Mayor seat for the next three years, instead of just two years, as a sort of gift for saving the Kiran government.
At the same time, the Congress party has also managed to silence its rebels like Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and P Shankar Rao to vote for the Kiran government, though they are bitter critics of him.
It is yet to be known what “settlement” they had reached to vote for the Chief Minister. The Congress leaders are also allegedly “managed” Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA Ch Ramesh to stay back in Germany in the name of flight problems.
Unfortunately, only the TDP legislators could not get anything in the bargain. “We are moving the no-trust motion and you are getting the benefits,” a TDP legislator commented with a rebel Congress MLA in the assembly.

Congress, TDP, TRS whip MLAs

The ruling Congress and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Sunday issued whips to their legislators on the opposition's no-confidence motion in the assembly.
While Congress directed all its 153 members in the 295-member house to vote against the TDP's no-confidence motion, the main opposition party asked its 86 legislators to back the motion when it comes up for voting Monday. TRS also asked all its 12 MLAs to be present in the house and vote for the motion.
Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) has not yet issued a whip to its lawmakers, keeping the Congress on its toes amid continuing uncertainty over the fate of the no-confidence motion.
PRP chief K. Chiranjeevi Sunday met 17 legislators of his party, who openly voiced unhappiness over being sidelined by the Congress even after the merger.
Since PRP remains a separate block in the assembly pending disposal of a petition in court by a PRP legislator challenging the merger, Chiranjeevi will have to issue a whip to ensure that all the legislators vote against the motion.
Unhappy over the delay in accommodating them in the state cabinet and other posts, the PRP MLAs are mounting pressure for their pound of flesh to bail-out the government.
Chiranjeevi briefed the MLAs about the assurance given by central Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to him last night. However, the meeting could not take a decision on issuing a whip as some leaders wanted that they be allowed to vote according to their conscience.
Meanwhile, YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy is holding a crucial meeting with Congress legislators loyal to him to take a final decision on his strategy. Twenty-one legislators, who met him Saturday, said they were ready to vote against the government and face by-elections if they were disqualified for violating party whip.
Two other loyalists opposed Jagan's decision to vote against the government and walked out of Saturday's meeting.
As many as 26 Congress rebels had switched loyalties to Jagan in August but some of them have since returned to the party fold.
Congress leaders including ministers met some of Jagan loyalists and handed them the party whip.
The ruling party is confident of defeating the motion with the support of PRP and its ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which has seven members.
PRP has 18 members in assembly but one of them Shoba Nagi Reddy is sailing with Jagan.
As there are seven vacancies in 295-member house (including a nominated member), Congress needs 144 votes to defeat the motion. The ruling party is sure of garnering 157 votes even if 21 rebels vote against it.
The parties which are in support of motion include CPI (4), BJP (2), CPI-M, Lok Satta and YSR Congress one each and one independent.

Its Jagan behind PRP MLAs revolt!!

The sudden heat generated in megastar-politician Chiranjeevi camp on the day the Opposition parties were gearing up for no-confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government has raised many eyebrows in the political circles.
Though it is initially believed that Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana had instigated the yet-to-be wound up Praja Rajyam Party MLAs to pull down the Kiran government, reliable sources tell a different story.
Many of the MLAs in the Chiranjeevi camp were in touch with YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and had given them promise to pull down the Kiran government at the right time. They are not happy with the way the Chief Minister was ignoring them and the Congress party leaders in their respective constituencies ill-treating them.
However, Chiranjeevi, a political novice that he is, was of the view that all his MLAs would listen to his words. So, when he had a meeting of the MLAs at his chambers in the assembly, they all pulled him up for not taking up their cause with the Congress high command.
“You have ensured your own political future; you may get the union cabinet berth sooner or later. But, what about us? We have not got even corporation chairperson posts, leave alone cabinet berths in the state. We don’t even know whether we get the Congress tickets in the next elections and even if some us will get, we don’t know whether we will get support of the local Congress leaders. Instead, it is better to go the Jaganmohan Reddy camp. At least there, we will get some recognition and he would ensure our victory,” the MLAs are learnt to have told Chiranjeevi.
The megastar was taken aback with the revolt and it was only after that he had leaked to the media about the disgruntlement among his group MLAs. And Botsa had to personally intervene and pacify him.
Later in the evening, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke to him and asked him to pacify his group MLAs. He assured to take care of the interests of the PRP legislators.

Kiran trying to divide and rule

Having realized that the Praja Rajyam Party legislators, including their leader K Chiranjeevi, are thoroughly disappointed with being ignored in his government, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has started wooing them.
According to the information reaching the Chief Minister, the PRP legislators might even vote against his government during the no-confidence motion moved by the Telugu Desam Party.
Apparently, Kiran might be apprehensive that Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanaryana could be instigating the PRP MLAs to vote for the no-confidence motion and pull down his government. That is why, the Chief Minister has begun the damage control exercise.
He asked Whip Kondru Murali to talk to Chiranjeevi and pacify him; and at the same time, he started talking to the PRP MLAs individually and seek their support. He called Kakinada rural MLA Kanna Babu to his chamber and promised to take care of his career.
“If it is not possible to convince the PRP MLAs at all at a time, he is making attempts to split them at least,” sources said.

High drama in Andhra politics

The last 24 hours have witnessed a rapid change in the political equations in the state.
At a time when Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was confident that majority of the party MLAs hitherto supporting YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy are back in the Congress party and would support his government in the no-confidence motion, they gave him a rude shock by attending Jagan’s meeting and declaring that they would support the no-confidence motion.
And when he thought the MLAs from Praja Rajyam Party would also support his government, they, too, gave the Chief Minister a rude shock by expressing their resentment against him for ignoring them all these days and virtually blackmailing him that his survival depends on their support.
And the Telugu Desam Party which was struggling to keep its flock together received a pleasant surprise. Three rebel MLAs – K Hareeshwar Reddy, S Venugopala Chary and Y Balanagi Reddy, who were suspended from the party for revolting against party president N Chandrababu Naidu, expressed their willingness to come back into the party. And Naidu, who discussed it with his senior party leaders, gave them a green signal.
The only TDP rebel left out now is Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who not only lost his MLA seat, but also became a loner; as two others Jogu Ramanna and Gampa Goverdhan joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi got their political future secure. It remains to be seen whether Nagam also will come back to the TDP or not.